I spent most of 2754 trying to build my economy. I have plentiful fuel (caslon) and steel nearby, and I've mined those accordingly. And I make plenty of cash. But I'm a bit tight on polymer and other important components for construction. I don't have the materials to build a big space fleet yet, to say nothing of defensive installations.

So I hope for good diplomatic relations in the early going. I plan to buy off pirates for the short term. But I was dismayed to discover that my two closest neighbors are distinctly unfriendly. Here's a look at diplomatic relations in late 2754.

In early 2755, my diplomacy seems to be holding the line -- although I neglected to send my Ambassador out to my only known neighbor, the Consciousness to the north. I just forgot about the Ambassador. Still, cash gifts seem to be mollifying the neighbors. I busy myself fighting off space jellyfish and the like.

It's early 2755, and the war does not go well. I'm trying to build a fleet at my home world of Almas, but only two of the 12 are built; the rest are delayed.

Here's an operational view, mid-war, somewhat zoomed in. Note that I'm playing in 2560x1600 resolution, which I love because I can see a lot of stuff at once -- but the fonts are small.

I turned off borders and sensor-range for this screenshot so that the screen wouldn't be bathed in blue, but I still found these two bluish spheres around my colonies. What do they represent? Also, what does the blue ring around my home system represent?

Alas, my northern colony is invaded. I had been trying to build a defensive installation there, but it lacked many heavy minerals and was stalled in the build queue. It was quickly attacked and destroyed, as was my nominal defending fleet.

On the ground, I'd been building troops there, but Securan troops start out rather weak, and most units hadn't been filled out yet anyway. Enemy troops landed and quickly overwhelmed my defenses. The colony fell without much of a fight.

The result is a rather sad hole in my sad little empire. The Gizureans still refuse to make peace, and I have no allies on which to call. In fact, I've met only two hostile races the entire game, and it's still only 2755. I'm not sure what year the game starts -- 2754? -- but it's been a short game.

That 12-size fleet you see at Almas is really just a shell: only two of the ships (standard-issue destroyers) are built. The Gizureans refuse to accept peace. I can only assume Almas is next.

With things looking rather bleak, I may just concede defeat here and start a new game. I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong. I couldn't gather the materials to form a fleet to deter aggressors, and I had no nearby allies. In fact, it all happened very fast: within a year, my empire was toast. Any thoughts on what I might have done differently? Any point in playing on?

Ouch, nasty starting location there, Gizzies even have as a victory condition now to spend the most time in a state of war... Doubt there's much to be done at this stage if you're completely out of Polymer as it is used in any and every form of base/ship. Could get lucky and have an explorer stumble across some salvageable ships.

As to what you might have done different not sure if you went on a building spree before your empire could really handle it? Seeing how the game starts you off with enough basic resources for early expansion the priority should be to explore the surrounding systems and use the expansion planner to make sure you have producing sources of all strategic goods rather then builds fleet vessels and mines on every rock you see. (And keep the construction ships on manual, atleast early on, or it will build mines on every rock it knows about for you...) If there's simply none around and no-one to trade with well, then you're just screwed.

Thanks for the comments. Seraphim, I did not focus enough on strategic materials when using the Expansion Planner. I did look for caslon, steel and polymer, but apart from that, I focused on new colony sites.

One further question. Even when I turn off the "colonizable planets" and "science" and "scenic planets" overlays, I still see the occasional yellow/orange circle around a planet. What's that mean?

ORIGINAL: Evrett I believe the 9% bar is how much "experience" that char has gained towards leveling up that skill..you gain like +10% to that skill when that bar hits 100%.

That's right. A character can have skills that they could potentially excel in, which are the ones in the progress bars, and they can also have skill modifiers from traits which can affect both skills that they can advance as well as skills that they can't advance. In the above screenshot, the Securan Leader has the potential to advance in War Weariness Reduction and Diplomacy. She can gain more skills and traits over time. She has modifiers to High Tech Research, Colony Ship Construction Speed and Tourism Income from her traits, but she cannot advance further in these areas (without developing those as advanceable skills).

Thanks, Erik. I've passed a morale check, so I'm going to play on a bit longer. :)

One further question. Even when I de-select the "colonizable" and "scenic" and "research planet" overlays, I still see a yellow/orange circle over one planet. What does that mean? I can post a screenshot if this description isn't sufficiently clear. EDIT: Never mind; maybe I was just seeing the scenic/research overlays.

All right, I have played on a bit longer. Actually, in game years, I've played much much longer. As I predicted, the shrimp came after my home world -- repeatedly. It wasn't pretty. My fleet, orbital defense and space port actually did survive 2 or 3 attacks, but eventually they all went kaboom.

I tried to rebuild the space port, but I lack the requisite polymer and especially steel. I build it 70%, and the shrimp come and blow it up. Rinse and repeat.

And I've learned that if you do not own a single space port, there isn't much you can do! You can't build any ships -- right? You will still trade: I'm getting rich selling off resources (I guess) from my planet, or from something -- I'm not quite sure how I'm getting rich. And indeed I'm slowly building up my stock of polymer (but not steel).

Because I can't build a single ship, I can't build colonies or even exploration ships. They're all dead, killed by the lobs..er, shrimp. I have a couple mining ships left, but they refuse to build a steel mining base. Why?

Anyway, without even exploration ships, my knowledge of the galaxy is stunted. I've met only a few races. Here they are.

Likewise, my map of the galaxy hasn't improved much. I've traded maps once or twice. My friends to the east have grabbed a colony that should've been mine ages ago. But it's now decades after game start, and I hardly have mapped the galaxy at all. Kinda weird, and kinda cool, lol!

Here's a scene I see every five or ten minutes now. A second empire has declared war on me, and they and the shrimp take turns landing troops on my homeworld. I then rebuff them, and my two troop generals gain experience and skill -- plus my troops gain experience. I wouldn't have understood why my troops are getting stronger had I not watched das's collaborative videos. For a paltry 10K a year, my troops are pretty tough! I'm building more at a steady clip now.

I have two construction ships, but they steadfastly refuse to build me a steel mine. Why?

Also, my trading partners are busily selling me polymer now -- yay -- but while I see ships carrying steel, I never see anyone sell it to me. Galaxy-wide supply of steel and polymer exceeds demand, so why am I getting one but not the other?

Also, I do have several hundred polymer in stock now, but the strategic planning screen says I have zero. Maybe it rounds down til I get to 1000?

Finally, you may wonder: why do I press on with this sad, sad state of affairs? Well, partly because having a tiny empire is a great way to learn the mechanics of DW, heh. I watch freighters come and go, watch the AI invade me with troops, watch as I gain generals and XP, try to figure out how to stockpile steel and polymer, etc. And I'm learning how crucial it is to have a spaceport.

Beyond that, there is the off chance that my two nemeses will turn on each other and destroy each other. Right? Hehe. Although even the occasional peace treaty doesn't help me. I just can't get any danged steel -- ever. Without steel, no spaceport. Without spaceport, no fighting ships, no exploration ships, no colony ships -- right?

Here's the current victory screen. I will play on a while longer, just to see what happens. It's fun in a weird sorta way.

ORIGINAL: Grotius Also, I do have several hundred polymer in stock now, but the strategic planning screen says I have zero. Maybe it rounds down til I get to 1000?

The strategic planner's your stock column doesn't show how much of a resource there is on planets, bases or ships but how much of it there is to mine on your colonies and planets or gas clouds with your mining stations. Conversely the galaxy stock column shows the total amount of the resource in the galaxy.

Oh and colony ships and constructors are build on planets, not spaceports.

Oh! Well what the hell, I'll try making a colony somewhere. But how do I find new potential colonies if I don't have explorer ships? Can I put explorer modules or some such in a colony ship or constructor chassis? (Or maybe I can buy such info from pirates.)

quote:

Great AAR, I hope we'll get an update soon.

Thanks! I hope to have time to update the AAR tonight. I'm still alive and kicking, and now I want to try making some colony ships.

Yes you can put resource profile sensors on any ship you want. Some races even have the RPS as a default component in colony ships. However I think you'll have to manually order such a ship to move from planet to planet, because the explore command is available only for explorer type ships as far as I know :)

Immagine if you mannage to turn this around, it would be a pretty amazing aar, from the ashes of your homeworld to galactic superpower.

if it gets too tedious though perhaps you can play with the editor and create a state of war between your enemies. I feel at this point since you invested so much into it, its better then just starting a new game.